Trapped American explorer sends video message from inside Turkish cave
Rescue teams in Turkey have successfully carried an American researcher up from the depth of a cave at 3,410 feet (1,040m) to the 2,300 feet (700m) mark – where he will rest at a base camp before they continue the taxing journey to the surface
“Mark [Dickey] was delivered to the campsite at -700 meters as of 03:24 local time (GMT+3). At this stage, he will set out again after resting and having the necessary treatments,” the Speleological Federation of Turkey said. The rescue will take days to complete, rescuers estimate.
Rescue teams are using explosives to blast open passages of the cave to safely extract Mr Dickey via a stretcher.
The well-known speleologist became trapped inside the Morca cave last Saturday, after suffering from bleeding in the digestive tract. An international team of cave rescuers and medical personnel had been working to stabilise the cave expert before launching the operation,
Earlier, it was estimated that the “difficult operation” would last at least three-four days, with an official fromTurkey’s disaster relief agency noting it would take a healthy person 16 hours to exit.
